BREAKING NEWS

These are the most popular rumors that got exposed (or verified) in August

Matt Levin

Updated
3:53 pm CDT, Saturday, August 22, 2015

Rumor:

The woman who murdered Tejano star Selena died in jail

The full story: A fake news website posted the hoax that Yolanda Saldivar died in prison in Gatesville, Texas this week. Authorities confirmed that Saldivar is alive and still serving her life sentence. Rumors about Selena’s killer keep playing out like a telenovela. Last year, a viral hoax purported that Saldivar would leave prison early.

The full story: A fake news website posted the hoax that Yolanda Saldivar died in prison in Gatesville, Texas this week. Authorities confirmed that Saldivar is alive and still serving her life sentence. Rumors about Selena’s killer keep playing out like a telenovela. Last year, a viral hoax purported that Saldivar would leave prison early.

These are the most popular rumors that got exposed (or verified) in August

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The woman who killed pop star Selena did not die in Texas this week. And no asteroid will end the world next month. On the Internet – thanks to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter – exciting lies and hoaxes spread around the world long before the true story comes out.

Space seems to be a popular place to get rumors and doomsday scenarios started. Politicians also tend to get untruths under way (though sometimes quotes are attributed to them that they never even said).

See the gallery above for the most talked about hoaxes in August so far (and also three incredible reports that were 100 hundred percent true).